A united left — with media help — could put Warren in the White House

Friday

Dec 8, 2017 at 12:01 AM

By Whitt Flora

BALTIMORE — Sen. Elizabeth Warren of Massachusetts likely will be the Democratic presidential nominee in 2020. Her fighting brigades will include feminists, neo-socialists and, of course, the nation’s powerful left wing media.

Unfortunately, the Democrats just don’t have anyone else with a national following, and aren’t likely to come up with anyone.

As things stand, the Harvard emeritus professor of law has become the leading left winger in a party that’s been taken over by the hard left, and she’s a feminist icon. Those are two huge advantages almost impossible for her primary opponents to overcome — especially if they happen to be male centrists.

The Democrats have largely abandoned the center of the political spectrum once embraced by Bill Clinton, and have embraced populist alt-left politics, as shown by a recent Warren speech.

Warren said the Clintons’ effort to push Democrats toward the political center is over. “The Democratic Party isn’t going back to the days of welfare reform and the crime bill,” she said of measures Bill Clinton signed into law as president that are hated by much of the far left. “It is not going to happen.

“We are not the gatecrashers of today’s Democratic Party. We are the heart and soul of today’s Democratic Party,” she said.

Warren first rose to stardom on the left because of her populist attacks against concentrated economic power, and she has since broadened her case against what she calls “a rigged system.”

She claims women, undocumented immigrants, African-Americans and lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender people all suffer from fundamental inequities.

And, there’s no doubt that she’s right about the direction her party has taken. That first became obvious when avowed socialist Sen. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.) did surprisingly well in the Democratic primaries in the 2016 race against relative centrist Hillary Clinton.

Sanders promised free college education and health care, which would have meant a 91 percent income tax rate, but that didn’t matter to the far left, which adored him.

Warren appeals to middle class voters with a left-wing populist message, saying they have gotten a raw deal from the system rigged by the rich.

That’s the perfect message for people who’ve had stagnant wages for decades. Added to that, Warren’s latest book is titled “This Fight is Our Fight: The Battle to Save America’s Middle Class.”

Here’s a sample of her populist rhetoric:

“Throughout our history, powerful interests have tried to capture Washington and rig the system in their favor. From tax policy to retirement security, the voices of hard-working people get drowned out by powerful industries and well-financed front groups. Those with power fight to make sure that every rule tilts in their favor. Everyone else just gets left behind.”

“Just look at the big banks. They cheated American families, crashed the economy, got bailed out, and now the six biggest banks are 37 percent bigger than they were in 2008. They still swagger through Washington, blocking reforms and pushing around agencies. A kid gets caught with a few ounces of pot and goes to jail, but a big bank breaks the law on laundering drug money or manipulating currency, and no one even gets arrested. The game is rigged — and it’s not right!”

Meanwhile, hard-core feminists are poised to use social media to blast any mainstream male Democrat with the effrontery to run against her.

They’ve done it to Senate leadership over a procedural dispute and have an ongoing dispute with Trump administration over a financial agency.

It doesn’t matter who’s right — she’s their icon and that’s all that matters.